


Late at Night

by JulyWolf



Category: Original Work
Genre: A whole lot of anxiety, Agender Character, Allan is really sad and scared, Fluff and Angst, Genderfluid Character, Nightmares, Original Character(s), Other, That seems like a tag I'm going to be using a lot, i love these two
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-21
Updated: 2014-09-21
Packaged: 2018-02-18 06:46:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2339003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JulyWolf/pseuds/JulyWolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Allan shows up at Zala's house in the middle of the night with some things to be resolved, Zala tries their best to help. Things don't go extremely well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Late at Night

**Author's Note:**

> Hey wow woah, it's the first thing I've finished writing in a few months!!  
> I really love writing these two aaahh <333 I've been working on them a bunch and they're just so great wow.  
> So yeah here's this, it's short but I'm pretty proud of it. u v u  
> (Alternate title: Nothing Good Ever Happens After 2 AM)

It was 3 in the morning, Zala was partway through checking the spare rooms and locking them up for the night when the knocking came from the front part of the house, loud and erratic. They knew who it was almost immediately and dropped what they were doing to make their way out to the front door, unlocking the three different locks in an uncoordinated but timely fashion.  
As the door swung open, they took in the state of the man standing before them and it was nothing good. Allan was a mess, looking like he'd been dragged through a knothole and shaking like a leaf. They brought him inside, locked all the locks again and shuffled him into the kitchen, sitting him down at the table. He started babbling his explanation as Zala went around the table to get him a glass of water.  
"I-it's-- They're after me. I know they are, I know--" Allan picked at his fingernails, Zala could hear him doing it and tried not to wince "I saw them, Zala. I saw them. I-I know I wasn't asleep this time, I couldn't have been."  
Zala set the glass down in front of him as they came back to the table and slid into the chair across from him before speaking "What were they doing, could you move this time?"  
"N-no, but.. They just- they just stared at me. They always just stare and- I heard the whispering again. I swear I could almost make out words." He stuttered, still picking at his nails. Zala placed their smaller hands over his to calm the movements.  
"What do you want to do?" They asked, starting to predict his answer.  
"Would-- Do you think it would be possible to do it again..?" He finally looked up from his hands and met their eyes. Unfortunately, they'd been right about his answer.  
Zala shook their head "Allan, I..don't think it would be a good idea. Last time we did, I brought stuff up that you'd worked so hard to bury and you- You almost passed out, remember? I just don't want to do that to you again."  
"I- No, no I would be fine. I promise." He said "I trust you, I know you didn't mean to! I just.. I need to find them. I-I need to figure this out and you're the only one that can help me with this."  
Zala studied his eyes for a moment, weighing their options.  
They could either deny him this and he would be miserable for the rest of the night, probably having more nightmares to follow the one that drove him here. Or they could go through with what he's asking them to do and potentially damage him in one way or another for the next few days at least. The desperation and pleading in Allan's eyes made Zala's stomach twist and they ran their fingers through their hair nervously. A habit they'd picked up from him.  
"Alright." They sighed, glancing down for a moment "But if I feel you slipping, I'm cutting it off. Understood?"  
Allan nodded quickly "Of- of course, yeah." 

\--------------------------------------------

Allan was laying on one of the mats in the altar room, staring at the ceiling when Zala returned and for a moment he didn't seem like he was going to snap out of it.  
"...Allan?" Zala raised their voice just a bit and the man winced, sitting up immediately.  
"Ye- Yeah, I'm..good. Sorry." He sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes, crossing his legs and staring down at the floor in front of him.  
"It's fine, dude. Don't worry about it." Zala shut the door and crossed the room to sit on the mat opposite of him, crossing their legs in a similar fashion "Are you sure you want to do this?"  
Allan stared at the floor for another moment before meeting their eyes, his own looking less assured than they had before.  
"I do, I just.." He hesitated for a moment "I just thought about the stuff you were saying. If you really don't want to do this, i-it can wait."  
"I'm just worried about you, Allan." Zala took off their glasses and folded them, setting them on the floor "Your body isn't used to this kind of magic, as we've established the past couple times, but you keep wanting to go back to it. Neither of us completely know how your body works after what it went through, and...I'm just scared that it's going to end up doing something to you that won't heal."  
Allan nodded and stared down at his nervous hands as he spoke "I-I know that. I do, I know all of that, I just..there's nothing else that I can do. This is the only thing that we've found that gets me closer to finding them. Whatever it's done to me, I can handle it. It's nothing worse than what I've been dealing with since all of this started."  
Zala shook their head "We can keep looking for more options. I..I can get back in touch with Joseph, even, I mean he knows people-"  
"No." Allan interrupted "No, I don't want him anywhere near you again. Not after last time, Zala, he almost got you killed. And he laughed about it, for god's sake!"  
"That's just how he is, you know that. He's a crazy asshole, but he wouldn't actually let me get killed. He..favours me too much." Zala cringed imperceptibly at those words. Joseph was disgusting, but if he could help them then it would be worth interacting with him.  
"See, that's exactly why I hate him! You just summed it up in one sentence." Allan was talking with his hands now. He always got like this whenever Joseph was brought up. "That is exactly how he is. He's a crazy asshole that's in love with you, so he'll almost let you get killed, save you, but then still laugh about it! He's horrible and eventually he's going to actually get you killed and y'know what? He'll probably still fucking laugh about it!"  
Zala sighed heavily and held their head in their hands "If I ever actually died under his watch, he would destroy himself and we both know that." They looked back up now "I mean hell, he might as well have already destroyed himself. You've never seen him at his worst, Allan, when all the shit that he's done to himself over the years gets really stirred up. He made his sisters scared of him, they haven't talked to him in so long he might not recognize them if they ever do come back."  
"I doubt he's that bad." Allan was being stubborn now and Zala wanted to yell at him.  
"Yeah? Try to really piss him off sometime, you'll find out how bad he is." They rolled their eyes. He was being ridiculous.  
"Yeah, so why do you want to go back there, then?" He snapped back "Talking about how awful and fucking scary he is, why would you want to go back there?"  
"Because I want to HELP YOU!" Their eyes flared up with that brighter-than-white glow "That's all I've ever wanted to do EVERY time I've EVER gone back there to him! It's ALWAYS been to help you. You really think I'm fucking stupid enough to go back there actually wanting to interact with him for the sake of what, old times? Old times were bullshit and I know it, that's why I fucking LEFT, Allan!"  
Allan had visibly crumbled in on himself. All of the stubbornness and dismissal of comments looked like they had been punched out of him. He looked like he was about to cry, in fact, and the white-hot fire in Zala's eyes fizzled out.  
"I-I'm sorry-" He choked out. He was shaking again.  
Zala moved to sit a bit closer to him and he visibly flinched.  
"Hey. Hey, no-" They reached out and gently put a hand on his shoulder "It's okay, you're alright. Look, I'm sorry I yelled, I shouldn't have. Just..when people press me about him, I flip. I've always done that, but I don't mean to. I'm sorry."  
Allan hesitated for a moment before pushing himself forward to hug Zala tightly and they returned it, rubbing his back soothingly.  
When Zala pulled away they still held both of his hands, sitting with their knees touching his "I'll talk to Mia tomorrow, see if she can talk to Joseph for me about finding someone to help us out. But if he says that I have to talk to him directly, then I'm gonna have to. Okay..?"  
Allan nodded "Y-yeah.. okay. If you really want to."  
Zala nodded back and sighed quietly, looking up at him now "It's like..four A.M. or something, dude. Do you wanna just stay the night?"  
He giggled and they couldn't help but giggle with him "Yeah, I..think I should."  
The two of them made their way to the bedroom and the rest of the night, they slept tangled in each other. Allan was a bit too long for the bed, so he was curled up around Zala and they were more than fine with it.  
Zala was still worried about everything that would inevitably go on tomorrow, but everything would be fine.  
It had to be eventually.


End file.
